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Pakistani court orders murder case registration against CIA Station Chief

Xinhua, April 7, 2015 Adjust font size:

A Pakistani court ordered police on Tuesday to register a criminal cases against two former CIA officials for offenses of murder, conspiracy, waging war against Pakistan and terrorism.

Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui of Islamabad High Court issued the order to the Islamabad Police Chief Tahir Alam Khan on a petition filed by Kareem Khan, a resident of North Waziristan tribal region who had lost his son and his brother in a drone attack carried out by the CIA in 2009.

On Dec. 31, 2009, Kareem Khan lost his teenage son Zahinullah and brother Asif Iqbal who was a primary school teacher in Mirali, North Waziristan Agency in a drone strike carried out by the CIA, his defense lawyer, Mirza Shahzad Akbar said.

The police chief explained that the government was reluctant to register the case against the former CIA station chief in Islamabad Jonathan Banks and CIA legal counsel John A Rizzo because such an act could possibly jeopardize relations between Pakistan and the United States.

After conducting hearing in chambers, Justice Siddiqui rejected the police chief's pleas and dictated an order directing him to register a criminal case against the CIA officials as per the application of petitioner and submit a copy of the case to the Islamabad High Court, to prove compliance.

Kareem Khan said he had started his legal struggle in 2010 and has been pursuing the case ever since. For around five years, the Islamabad police had been avoiding proceeding against the CIA officials involved in this brutal killing and hundreds of other killings in U.S. conducted drone strikes in Pakistan.

Kareem Khan had earlier filed cases before the Justice of Peace in Islamabad and Islamabad High Court in the same matter but so far the Islamabad police had been reluctant to proceed against the CIA officials.

"Today's order is a victory for all those innocent civilians that have been killed in U.S.-led drone strikes in Pakistan and as a citizen of Pakistan, I feel somewhat reaffirmed that perhaps people like me from Waziristan might also be able to get justice for the wrongs being done to them," Kareem Khan said after the court issued the order. Endi